"We have imposed certain criteria in order to keep the network private and exclusive. To join, you need to be invited by a trusted member."

If you’ve been ‘invited’ to be part of someone’s network such as Friendster or Linkedin, you probably wondered what would happen when nearly everyone on earth gets linked up. While the ‘six degrees of Kevin Bacon’ theory makes great speculation, the original Stanley Milgram idea could end up being the most abused part of our connectedness. (If you’ve ever been approached by the MLM folk who try to turn your friends, and friends of friends into your ‘downline’ you’ll know.)

So one has to respect the exclusive network called ‘A Small World’ when it tries to shut out the masses. Of course they intend to connect people from Amsterdam to Zurich, (Note: not Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe) with highbrow interests related to sailing, dining, racing and winter resorts, but if you’re not invited, don’t even think of applying!

As the landing page puts it, "If you have no friends who are members yet, you simply need to be patient." Translated: if you have no friends in high places, find another network, buddy.

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In the networked, reverse-globalized world’s there’s a new definition to the ‘ word dictaphone. A service called CopyTalk allows people to dictate e-mail into their phone.

Think of it as hands-free email! You could also listen to your email, and update a contact manager while far away from your desktop, PDA or Web-based calendar.

A CopyTalk subscriber calls a toll-free number in the U.S. and dictates his email, specifies a recipient (from a personalized address book set up in advance), and fires off the message. How is this possible? Using the human interface. CopyTalk uses live customer-service people in Chennai, India, who take dictation, type in message and send it for you. The service reads back email mail to you whether you use Outlook, AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo!

What I like about the service is the human interface in the all things-automated world. Pure techies would scoff at this, saying there’s a way to bypas the human interface. But for the moment, even the best voice-recognition solutions are fraught with problems.

You may have noticed something called VoiceMode quietly making its way into cell phones –the speech-to-text solution for text messaging and email on the road. More on this later, but suffice to say that it is way too time consuming. The few tumb typers I know in Sri Lanka would beat voicemoders to a punch!

Besides, I hate the thought (and the sight) of people in public places talking loudly into their phones -especially the dorks with a bluetooth headset, waving their hands and seemingly talking to themselves. Imagine what Voice Mode would do for this!

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If you have been reading Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist Walt Mossberg, you’ll know that he heaps praises on Apple quite a bit. As a former Mac addict, I can see where he comes from. But this week’s Personal Technology piece (April 28, 2005) takes it to a point where I could see the folks in Cupertino in hog heaven.

Mossberg basically calls Microsoft an also-ran in the OS department.

"Overall, Tiger is the best and most advanced personal computer operating system on the market, despite a few drawbacks. It leaves Windows XP in the dust."

The article is all about the advaced Search function, called ‘Spotlight‘. One must envy Mac users who inherited a fabulous operating system. And that’s just under the hood. Macs (and of course iPods) are now the most desirable devices on the planet, with icon and cult status.

It goes to prove that good branding is not just the outer skin of marketing, but something that works from the inside out. To be able to get serious journalists to practically write your body copy takes more than a cool interface.

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So much has been happening in the post tsunami phase, that it’s not possible now to combine this MarCom and technology blog with my effort in Sri Lanka.

If you’re a returning visitor to this site based on the tsunami coverage and fund raising, please leave a contact address and I will send you a link to the new site when it comes up. Meanwhile, see visit Wave of Hope for updates.

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The white smoke rose from the Sistine chapel a little while ago, and we now have a new Pope in the Vatican!

Pope Benedict XV, a Bavarian, is 78 years young! See story here.

Within minutes, BBC has this profile. Need to visit? Check this link for an online tour.

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My mind goes back nearly 26 years ago, when I had the luck to shake hands with John Paul II. He was barely one year at the Vatican then, and was so young and dynamic.

It was a very windy day, and I recall so vividly his robes flying around him, as he strode across Vatican square, genuinely anxious meet those who had come to see this enigmatic Pole. For want of something intelligent to say at that moment, I asked him to put Sri Lanka on his itinerary. Something John Paul did many years later, as he became the most travelled Pope in history, reaching out to all religions and nationalities.

Our prayers are with him tonight.

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